Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In October 2015, we agreed a budget that included €10 million to fund the extension of free general practitioner care to all children under 12 years of age. The programme for Government extended that commitment to all children under 18 years. Last October, a full year after we budgeted for those under 12 years, the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, confirmed that negotiations had not even begun on the issue. Extending free GP care to all those under 18 years will require further legislation, although there is no mention of that in the published programme.

Will the Minister indicate when we will see the legislation to provide for the extension of free GP care to all under 18 years, as set out in the programme for Government? When will the commitment, made in October 2015, to provide GP care to all children under 12 years be fulfilled?

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